Tag Archives: feldenkrais marketing

In the last month, I have received messages from two different people who have bought one of my Feldenkrais mp3 series directly from me and said, “Ryan, I bought your product but it didn’t work. I don’t see it on my iPhone. It is not in my iTunes either.” People are buying stuff directly from me and then expecting it to be automatically transfered or to show up in their iTunes. In other words, the Apple ecosystem has gotten so strong that it has created for some people the habit and expectation that their music and mp3’s should just magically show up in iTunes regardless of where they buy them.

For me, this creates a bit of a problem because for every $1 that I make selling my downloads via iTunes and Amazon, I make $5 selling on my own. To state that differently, on a month that I make $100 selling via Apple and Amazon, I usually take in $500 or more on my online store. The two numbers are not related, there is no correlation or causality between them. But I keep about 95% of the profit when I sell on my own. And when selling via iTunes and Amazon only keep about 63%…not to mention that iTunes limits my selling price to $9.99 per album.

So…am I crazy to keep selling my stuff through the music aggregators such as iTunes? Perhaps. But I constantly get positive feedback from people who have bought my stuff on iTunes. And I know that I am reaching people who otherwise might not have tried the method. And…as many of you know…I make my living selling online and I do have some secret weapons. For example, many people who do not buy directly from me end up signing up for my email list. I have created a direct path for them to do so. And later many of them buy directly from me. And, perhaps more important, when I start teaching live Feldenkrais classes again, I will have a very large email list of people who know me and who have used my work and to whom I can promote my workshops.

And, as much as it pains me to say this, Apple iTunes and the Amazon mp3 store are only going to get more powerful and gain more market share. They are becoming ingrained in people’s buying process and they are getting larger and larger. Not being on those services limits the ability of the work to get better known and for individual practitioners to get better known. It is about as simple is that.

If you want to learn more about this, in particular, WHETHER you should sell online and HOW you should sell online. And how to do so in the most cost-effective and most powerful way, I invite you take an hour with me to show you some tips, tricks and strategies for doing so. We can spend our time wondering how the work can get better known…or we can take action and make the work better known. For me, it is a very simple choice.

If you are not ready to sell online right now, right away. That’s fine. Start learning today and plant the seeds for the next phase of your development:

Do you have recordings of your ATM classes or workshops? Have you wondered about selling them online? Or you want to make recordings and reach a larger audience, even become an “international player”? Perhaps you simply want to diversify your practice and have more sources of income….?

I often get people asking me about how I sell my products online and if it is worth the time and effort. Like many things in life the answer depends on what you want and what you value. On a monthly basis, I get payments from over a dozen sources – not only from selling my downloads on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play, but also selling them on my websites and blogs, not to mention other sources of online income such as google ad revenue, affiliate fees for promoting products, coaching sessions, online conference and, yes webinars such as this one.

If you want to get an overview of how to sell your Feldenkrais products online and what the benefits could be for your particular situation, join me for this 55-minute webinar. I will not only give you a broad overview of how to sell online (and to do so easily and cheaply) but also give you the tools you need to do so.

Money, of course is a benefit of selling Feldenkrais mp3´s, CD and other products. But you can also sell online to get yourself better known, to help the method gain more traction and, sometimes, you may to give your Feldenkrais sessions away in exchange for people’s email addresses. Once you have email addresses you can follow-up with messages promoting your classes and workshops.

If you know what you are doing, you can…um…just do it.

Much of this “online stuff” is only complicated until you know what to do. Let me give you an overview so that you can take the next step in your professional and personal development!

As usual, I am not only going to teach you cool and useful stuff, but also give you some bonuses such as a video tutorial series that will show you exactly how to set-up and use a cheap, effective shopping cart system called, “E-Junkie.” I also have a special code that will give you a 67-day free trial. You can have your first sale before you have to pay.

One of the main things that I love about selling online, especially mp3´s of Feldenkrais ATM series is that everything is automated. People pay, get their products, and the money is deposited in my account automatically. And, no, you don’t need to be a programmer to set-it up.

I am keeping the cost of this webinar low. Join me for only $27.00. That is the lowest price that I have ever charged for a session! And, as always, you will have access to a recording of the webinar that you can download or play online. You don’t have to attend “live” (though I recommend that you do.)

Ready? Click the button below to reach my new webinar site, “Ryan’s Webinars.” After you enroll, you will be directed to a special page that has your webinar link. The same page where you can watch the recording of the webinar after I post it and ask any follow questions that you have.

On another website, I just wrote a post on the benefits of getting a free google local listing. Google local (technically called “Google Places” now) is getting more and more important as Google is highlighting the local listings based on what geographic location you are searching from and what keywords you type. They can also push the “natural” rankings way down the page. Meaning a current high-rank can be worth less and the free local listings worth more.

As a Feldenkrais practitoner, you need to be on Google local. It’s free, can bring people directly to you, and you can add any specialties that you have.

You can do it on your own, you don’t need to pay anyone. It can take as little as 15-minutes:

Top Secret Feldenkrais Ninja-Tip: If you work in multiple places, create a listing for each location. For example, if you practice in Manhattan part of the week and Brooklyn the rest of the week, add a separate listing for each one.

Last month I taught a webinar on how you – as a Feldenkrais Practitioner and small business owner – can organize your website to get more students and workshop attendees. Within just a few days of the webinar one of the participants, Kim Cottrell, Portland Feldenkrais practitioner streamlined and organized her website to take advantage of the principles that I taught. The result? According to Kim:

“It’s working. I have had 5 new contacts in the last week. One woman wants to buy a package of 3 lessons. Two pregnant women. Two older women.”

Why is it working? I’ll let Kim describe it:

“My site is no longer cross-motivated.
Looks better, more attractive.
Clearer what I’m asking of them.
Clearer what I’m offering.”

That about covers it! If you have a website and you want people to DO something on that site – like call you to schedule a session – then you have to put yourself in the frame of mind that they are in. What are their needs and goals? What is the simplest way that you can communicate that can you help them?

Generally speaking, people don’t want to hear a story about Moshe walking to Palestine on foot (groan). Nor do they want to be lectured about the importance of awareness or learning how to learn, nor do they want to know about your credentials or who you studied with.

They want to know if you can help them.

In order to communicate to potential students that Kim can help, she starts her webpage with two great pictures. One clearly shows people moving (and clothed!), answering questions about what the method “is.” And the second is a picture of her (smiling) which connects the method to a real person:

And then she immediately moves into language and ideas that are about the client:

That language speaks to a great many people who come to her website. If a person has any of those thoughts in their head when they visit, they are likely to feel welcomed.

Kim then talks about some other ideas that might interest a customer and then she makes an offer. That is, she makes a simple, clear call to action:

Do you have a call to action on your website? You’ve got to have one. You have to make it easy for a person to understand what you want. Don’t take it for granted that they know.

Take quick look at Kim’s website: Kim Cottrell. And then take a look at your own. What can you do to simplify your website? Do people know what you are offering? Can they easily understand your language? Do you make them an offer? You don’t need to reorganize everything all at once. Just start with making some small changes that simplify what you are offering and what you do. There is a reason why you start an FI with some gentle movement that go with the person’s organization? The same idea applies online….

“You” and “Your” are two of the most important words that you can use online to increase your results and to get more students and workshop participants for your practice. Why? Well, think about what YOU personally do when you navigate to website or do a web search.

Are you looking for something specific? Do you have a need or want that you hope the website can help you with? If so, you (consciously or otherwise) want to find indicators on that website that the creator is specifically speaking to you and your needs. Vague and unspecific language will not give you what you want. Consider:

Having an Impact Online: “It’s all about YOU.”

Here are the examples that I went over in the video.

The low-effectiveness versions

It [Feldenkrais] operates by giving people choices about how they move

As people use the Feldenkrais Method they often become more able to act from choice and not routine or habit.

Who is it [Feldenkrais} for?

The versions that work to increase effectiveness on your website:

Feldenkrais can help you by giving you choices about how you move.

As you use the Feldenkrais Method you will become more able to act from choice and not routine or habit.

Feldenkrais is for you if you want to make the things you do easier, more efficient and pleasurable.

Get More Students For Your Practice and More Participants for Your Workshops

For me 2010 is going to go down as the year that every Feldenkrais practitioner “had to” start using social media and begin “Tweeting” and “Facebooking” and learning 10,000 different ways to use social media to create “buzz” and manage their “brand” online. I’m exaggerating of course – but not by much. Just about every week I meet new practitioners and trainers and such who want to engage people via social media and somehow use it fill their practice. It’s great to see so many people actively engaging the internet and looking for ways to connect others.

But when it comes to business – real business and measurable results such as increasing income and gaining more students – social media is not the most effective solution. I realize that with that statement I have lost many of you. Sorry. But in a world in which we all have finite resources – especially limited money and limited time, we have to put our action into areas that give us the greatest results with the least amount of effort.

I do research online and I know what works and what doesn’t. When I engage in a tactic on the internet, it has to be measurable and it has to lead directly and efficiently to a desired result. For me that result is having someone purchase one of my downloads (at ever increasing rates), buy an affiliate product from which I get a commission or contact me to help increase their results online. For many of you, it would be (I assume) having people contact you to schedule a session? Or to attend one of your classes? If so, is that happening for you?

Is your website or blog bringing you new students?

Is it increasing enrollment in your classes or workshops?

Are people contacting you via the web to get more information or schedule a session?

If not, then tweating or posting on Facebook can be a major time waster. As is increasing your number of “friends” and “followers” and all that stuff. It’s fun and can be useful. And I know that many of you have seen me there. I have personally benefitted by reading and finding great videos and articles posted by other practitioners and friends (maybe even one of yours?) I’ve found wonderful resources that I would not have found otherwise.

But in the place where we directly focus on building our businesses and practices – and expanding the reach and influence of the method – we need to – must – focus on indicators directly relevant to the health of our businesses. The most relevant measure online is called “conversion.” Have you heard of it? I measure it like a maniac and it pays massive dividends.

Conversion and Why It’s Critical

Conversion is short for “conversion rate” which is simply the percentage of people who take a certain action after viewing your website (they call you, send you an email, buy your product etc). For example if 1 out of every 100 people who visit your website send you an email to inquire about getting a functional integration session, you have a 1% conversion rate. If you can increase that number to 2 people per 100 you have a 2% conversion rate. And you have doubled the effectiveness of your website! Income and influence can be built on high-conversion rates.

How I know. Since mid-2006, I have been conducting conversion tests on my and my client’s websites. What I mean by that, is I take a webpage that is designed to get a result and I create multiple versions of the website. Each version is different than the other in one small way that I think might be relevant. For example, I might test three different prices for a product and see which price sells the best (It’s not always the lowest price that sells the most). Or I might test the images on a website to see which helps get the most sales or referrals. I use a program that measures the results and does statistical analysis so that I know which is best. I want real knowledge of what works, not “guess work.”

The overall process is called “conversion optimization” and though the programming can be difficult, the measurement only requires knowledge of two things: The number of visitors to a website and the number of visitors who take action while viewing the website. This is the equation:

Actions ÷ Visitors = Conversion Rate = New Students/New Sales (etc)

Got that? It’s just a simple percentage – the percentage of people who take an action. Many of you already get a fair amount of traffic to your websites. Not enough to build an entire practice around perhaps, but enough to be getting regular phone calls and emails from your site. Is that happening for you? Does your website “convert”? To get there the percentage of people who actually DO something must be increased.

Repeat: The number of people who come to your website is largely irrelevant as a business indicator (as is the number of your twitter followers, facebook friends etc). Your influence and ability to get more students and workshop participants is a function of the percentage of people who “convert” or do something on your website. Having a website where you only get 500 visitors per month but 10 people contacting you, is infinitely better than having a website where you get 1000 visitors but only 1 contacts you.

I’m not sure how to make it clear to you how important that is: Conversion is King. A beautiful website won’t bring new students to you. Neither will an “award winning” website nor one that your colleagues love or appreciate. The only thing that matters for building a practice online (or any business) is whether your website gives you a meaningful and measurable result: Do people visit your site and then contact you? If not, how can you organize yourself and your website to get better results?

There are many ways to instantly increase your website’s conversion rate and get more clients (or sales or leads or whatever else you want). Many of them are very simple and involve nothing more than changing a few words. Seriously. Even a child can make some of the changes. Other conversion accelerators are slightly more complex. They involve changing or moving certain elements that you have on your site such as your pictures and graphic elements.

Other techniques require taking a deep breath and a leap of faith and making some seemingly radical offers to your website visitors. (Believe me – It once took me a year to make a change on one of my websites that I “knew” I needed to make). In this webinar, I will not only go over the potential changes step-by-step, but also rank them for you, so that you can decide which you can most comfortably use now and which you may want to save for later. This particular webinar is also going to be interactive so we will have some time to do a “live” review of some participant’s websites and you can ask me any questions that you would like.

The Geek Stuff Is Not Required

In this webinar, I’m not going to ask you to do research, nor even understand research. But I do want you to realize that the advice that I will be sharing with you is research-based. That’s why I gave you details about the process above. I’m not sharing with you what “I think” will work, but rather what actually works. What I have found often runs contrary to common sense. In fact, I have been 100% sure that something wouldn’t work, only to find over and over again that it DOES work and make a difference. That’s why measurement is so important. It gets you out of the realm of mere opinion.

“I’m getting more referrals from my website now, including a recent one from a famous local celebrity!Bob S, GCFP, Perth Feldenkrais

“My website is bringing me more referrals from local students and also generating interest and comments from colleagues all over the United States.”Carrie Lafferty, GCFP

“I was frustrated with a lead generation website page that was not generating any income. Within two weeks of implementing the website changes suggested by Ryan, I received several leads that ended up being worth thousands of dollars. I pay very close attention to what Ryan suggests.”Michael Beale, U.K. Business Trainer

Ready to Give it Go?

This live, interactive online workshop is jammed-packed full of conversion tips that will help you accelerate your results online and get more students and class attendees. And the information is laser-targeted to helping you increase your conversion rate and get better results from your online presence. When we are done, you will have a list of easy-to-make changes – many of which you can do yourself. And you will be empowered with the knowledge of what works online and how you can get there. Some of you may find that you are just one or two “tweaks” away from increased results.

The workshop will be recorded so that you can review it later. To attend you only need a computer and an internet connection. You will be able to see my computer screen (so I can show you examples of what works) and you will also be able to hear (via your phone or computer speakers) and interact with me. Enroll below and you will get your own personal link to the session.

Space for this workshop is limited. My interactive meeting service (GoToMeeting) only allows 15 participants. My last online workshop sold out and this one will likely fill up quickly. Register now to ensure a space.

When? Weds, October 27th

Where? Everywhere. Just get online!

$57.00

I stand behind what I sell. If you are not satisfied with the workshop for any reason, you will get your money back – no questions asked.

GoToMeeting is the most advanced, reliable and easy webinar service that I have used. You only need a web browser and internet connection to join. If your internet is slow, you may want to consider calling in to hear the audio.

I just took a quick snapshot of some of the stats on this website and I though you might be interested in taking a look. No internet statistics – even from mighty Google – are ever 100% accurate. My internal server logs show downloads in excess of 37,000, but I will go with Google’s more conservative numbers below:

What has been downloaded the most?

As you can see above, two of our ladies are the biggest draw. Both the Bonnie Humiston and Ruthy Alon interviews have been downloaded over 1000 times. Next up Steve Gilligan and Martin Weiner. The FF40 #1 that you above is my open-source session that I released a few weeks ago. Keep in mind that the numbers above are slightly skewed. The most highly downloaded files were published in the last 6 months when my traffic has been at its highest. When Marty first appeared, my traffic was about a third of what it is now.

Who views this blog? How do they get here?

As you can imagine google is a big draw. But notice the huge range. In the last 30 days, google has sent traffic from over 450 keywords. Notice that people on average spend 4 minutes on the site and visit over 3 pages. In the blogosphere that is very "sticky," people tend to come here and stay a while. Note: Those numbers are just for the last 30 days. Overall Google has sent nearly 20,000 visitors via 5,799 unique keywords. Pretty cool, eh?

Here’s the top 20 searches for the last month:

Social Media: Facebook Visitors

Facebook sent me a few hundred visitors this month. How? Mainly by other people reposting my blog posts on Facebook. Though, I do post them myself from time to time. Notice how long the Facebook users stay on the website – An average of 7 minutes.

Take Home Message

Feedback and noticing what is working isn’t just about the work. It’s an attitude towards life. How can you know what effect you are having if you are not measuring? How can you know what’s working if you do not see the patterns? What I have posted above is just the surface level stuff. It’s not the most important factors, but the most understandable and easiest to write about. I often test different versions of a website or webpage in order to see which one will generate the most sales or the most page views. I test headlines, prices, offers and the like. More on that later…

Unlike presentations in traditional conferences all of the Cyberconference talks are available for instant download. This means that you can listen, re-listen and learn in your own time and in your own way. Several of the presenters, including myself and Bill O’Hanlon offer free bonuses and slides and such that you can use to further your learning.

Core Faculty

The core faculty for the session include some of my favorites in the field of therapy and transformational change: Stephen Gilligan, Stephen Lankton, Bill O’Hanlon, and Jeffrey Zeig. All are highly skilled change agents and are direct students of Milton Erickson and (most important) innovators and thinkers in their own right.

Though I have only made it through about a third of the presentations so far, my personal favorites have been David Calof’s and Bill O’Hanlon’s. David’s 30-minute talk is a hypnotic induction called, “Relax! Stop Trying to be Creative and Flexible” I will admit that I did the session while working out on a treadmill. Not the best place to be hypnotized, but it certainly was fascinating (and slightly freaky).

My friend and occasional co-presenter, Bill O’Hanlon, speaks to creating cooperation and results while doing changework and coaching. His presentation is highly-useful and highly-relevant for practitioners engaged Feldenkrais-based work. Though I have not yet listened to Michael Yapko‘s presentation on stopping the spread of depression, he is one of my all-time favorite thinkers in the field of hypnosis. I have bought and read every one of his books and audio-programs. Why? His work is wonderful thought-innoculation against the prevalent and exceedingly wrong idea that depression is “in our genes” or “caused by chemicals in the brain.” Life is a process. Yapko gets that.

Healing the Feminine Psyche

Also, if you have never heard of Michelle Ritterman, you may want to take note. She has a presentation on “Healing the Feminine Psyche” and the “Tao of a Woman”. She has many empowering ideas any one of which can effect a change. One of which I enjoy: “How do We Find a Stance in Life that enables us to experience our uniqueness at every moment?” Very powerful stuff. Even though I am not a woman (except on special occasions – don’t ask). I deeply appreciate her work.

Discount and Bonus

Take a look at the presentations and see which ones look most interesting to you? Not only are there 24 international experts presenting but there is one – and only one – group of people who can take this worskhop at a discount. That would be you, the readers of this blog. Enter the coupon code “Moshe” at checkout for a 25% discount.

How long has it been since you first began thinking of creating a website to market your practice?

Too long, I bet. What has stopped you? You don’t know how to register a URL? Don’t know anything about hosting? Think that creating a website will be too time consuming or too expensive?

Forget about all that. And don’t worry about lack of knowledge. I am going to walk you step-by-step through the process of easy website creation.

“Website And Blog Creation Can Be Easy and Pain-Free”

Not only am I going to show you how to quickly and easily set-up your website or blog. I am going to do so “live” onscreen so that you can see the process and ask any questions that you might have. I’m even going to record the sessions so that you can view it later for continued learning. And – as usual – I’m going to give you a whole host of free bonuses for joining, such as guides to Search Engine Optimization, Link Development, Engaging Social Media and many, many others.

“What You Will Learn”

• How to Register Websites for $7.69 (I’ll show you were I get my coupons)

• The Best Website Names To Register (Learn What search engines AND people are looking for)

Easy Enrollment

Click the button below and you can purchase enroll via GoogleCheckout or Paypal. Your personal information is safe: It is submitted via Secure Sockets Layers (SSL) which is military-grade encryption.

After you register, your personal link to the webinar will be delivered instantly. You will also have immediate access to your webinar bonuses.

Please note: The Webinars will be video-recorded. You can buy them now and “attend” even if you can’t be there “live”

This webinar has been cancelled! My apologies. May schedule for a later date…. – Ryan

* I stand behind what I sell. If you are not satisfied with the material, you will get your money back – no questions asked. My promise to you? If you can use email and the internet, and know how to “cut and paste” you can do everything that you need to enact these strategies.

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Feldenkrais Podcast Episodes

Feldenkrais sessions that involve the breath have a tendency to bring out a great deal of emotion in me, sometimes leading to spontaneous crying or anger. Have you experienced something similar? The first time I experienced it was during a Feldenkrais table session (sometimes called "Functional Integration"). I was young at the time, only 24... […]

I am at a coffee shop preparing the transcript for my weekly Easy Feldenkrais session and I had a moment of confusion when the transcript of Moshe's session said, "Press the middle of your waist in the floor. That is, press the small ribs on the right and left - the floating ribs." To me,... […]

I was really excited a few days ago when I saw that my longtime friend, colleague and fellow "Feldenkrais Evangelist" Alfons Grabher had released a new book: Feldenkrais With Alfons: Getting Better Day By Day. Alfons does what I do - travels the world (He is an Austrian currently traveling in Hong Kong, Taiwan and... […]

Here is a wonderful (and free) audio Feldenkrais session that you can do right now. No need to enter your email, just click below to play. It is based on a session from "Alexander Yanai" (or AY as they are sometimes called). This is one of my all time favorite sessions. And that has little... […]

Several Feldenkrais practitioners told me that they do not like the tone of the article below from the U.K. Telegraph, but I love it! Slightly irreverent and 100% positive for Feldenkrais (from my point of view). "I was seeing the best physios in the world – and doing Pilates,” he recalls of his injuries, yet... […]

Moshe Feldenkrais

Every so often, I get questions from people about TMJ and surgery, be it a disk removal or grinding of the teeth or what have you. I am not a medical doctor and I cannot give medical advice. But what I can do is review the research on TMJ surgery, consult with experts, and make...

I have not been updating the blog too much these days, but just wanted to let you know that I (Ryan Nagy) am still here and the TMJ series is still going strong. I also want to relay to a very strange experience that I had last year but that I am only now writing...

I’m in the process of pulling together my pdf’s and research articles on TMJ in preparation for writing a book on the subject of “curing” TMJ. I put the word cure in quotes as very often TMJ does not seem to be a disease as much as a process. People often have processes of clenching...